18 replies to this topic

[Raven Corax]

Hej Guys,

adjusting my character's abilities right now and wonder if INT, WIS and CHA have any other effects than the ones described e.g. here.
The Baldur's Gate ingame descriptions of these stats seem to hint that they have even more effects, similar to the ones of PS:T. I'm talking about more dialogue options and more ways to complete a quest just by talking. So guys, do these stats have just the effects described in the link or do they give me a more thorough gaming experience when increasing?

[Solar's Harper]

Certain dialogue options require a minimum level of any one of these statistics in order to be shown, or in other cases: succeed. Charisma is, generally speaking, the one mostly used for this purpose, although in canon content, the requirement is fairly steep for whatever reason. If I recall correctly, in BG1 this could lead to better rewards if your charisma was around or higher than 17, which let's face it - very few politicians could qualify for that.

Apart from that, these three statistics affect gameplay in terms of how many spells can be memorized or granted (INT and WIS respectively), or how well one can resist certain mental altering affects, such as charm magic (this difference tends to be fairly insignificant however at high difficulty levels).

I wouldn't say they go as far in the BG series as they do in PS:T, but they're still worth investing in - if only through the power of trait altering items.

[Dakk]

Good points from SH, but:

Certain dialogue options require a minimum level of any one of these statistics in order to be shown, or in other cases: succeed.

Apart from (mod) romance and perhaps other mods, these cases are extremely rare, and possibly even a myth.

Apart from that, these three statistics affect gameplay in terms of [...] how well one can resist certain mental altering affects, such as charm magic (this difference tends to be fairly insignificant however at high difficulty levels).

Not implemented in BG(2) as far as I know.

I wouldn't say they go as far in the BG series as they do in PS:T, but they're still worth investing in - if only through the power of trait altering items.

Note though that, regrettably, the way the 2nd ed D&D stat-tables work stats are pretty much all or nothing. Lingering in the middle often gives absolutely nothing, you need like 16+ in a stat for it to have an significant effect.

See this for more information.

Edited by Dakk, 13 October 2010 - 10:12 AM.

[berelinde]

Wisdom affects your ability to cast Wish successfully. Also, if your PC's wisdom is high enough, he can traditionally expose the Master Wraith.

Don't know where charisma is used.

There has been much talk over the years about introducing stat-dependency in BG2. Ultimately, the idea of adding a bazillion EXTEND_BOTTOM PC replies to game dialogues would be a lot of work. Maybe too much.

[Archmage Silver]

In BG charisma is a dump stat, meaning that you don't really need to invest in it. You only need one character with high charisma to get the store discounts, an NPC will do just fine. You'll get the Ring of Human Influence early on in BGII anyway, so then you can just equip it before you visit a store. Otherwise just use the 1st level arcane spell "Friends".

[Raven Corax]

Well, thanks guys. Now I know I'm happy with my character creation.

I have just another, completely unrelated, question: When buying things, next to the amount of needed gold is another number in brackets and I just can't figure out what it has to do with anything. Please tell me and I'll be eternally grateful .

Edited by Raven Corax, 14 October 2010 - 08:36 AM.

[Solar's Harper]

Quantity of the item.

Edit: For missile weapons, don't be too alarmed by the number, it'll also judge by the same measurements. Like say, ten arrows a batch, and there are five batches on sale. Thus making for fifty arrows in total. Some items of course, are not limited this way, thus allowing for larger purchases as long as you have the space and money to get them.

Edited by Solar's Harper, 14 October 2010 - 09:24 AM.

[Raven Corax]

Sorry, but I think you misunderstood me. I don't mean the numbers in the icon, which are on the left side of the price, but the numbers on the right side of the price. I thought of that before, but the silly thing is, that there are more items of the same type to choose from and these have different numbers in brackets. It's like:

Icon (with the quantity number): Name of the item - x GP (infamous number in brackets).

[GeN1e]

more dialogue options and more ways to complete a quest just by talking.

Just the day before yesterday Demivrgvs half-suggested me the idea to make 'Dialogue Revisions' mod, to allow for more stat checks in replies . Still, as much as the idea is good, I fear it not really is possible without serious compatibility issues, not to mention the load of coding required...

[Solar's Harper]

Sorry, but I think you misunderstood me. I don't mean the numbers in the icon, which are on the left side of the price, but the numbers on the right side of the price. I thought of that before, but the silly thing is, that there are more items of the same type to choose from and these have different numbers in brackets. It's like:

Icon (with the quantity number): Name of the item - x GP (infamous number in brackets).

I know what you mean, and I just explained it before. The number of the icons is what you get for each single number on the right side. Regardless of whatever's on the left side, you'll only be able to buy that by the number that is on the right side. Icon says ten arrows, number on the right says five, you can only buy five batches of arrows.

Icon : Name of the item, * (Right hand number) - GP

Or in the case I described above:

10Arrows * 5 - GP = 50Arrows, xGP - GPCost

Try it out and you'll see for yourself, granted generic arrows are rarely limited in quantity.

Hope that clears up my otherwise abysmal math teacher facade.

[Dakk]

A perfect example of the adage "A picture is worth a thousand words"

[Raven Corax]

Yeah, you're right . So here's a screenshot. I mean the number above the cursor.

Spoiler

[Dakk]

Isn't that just how many of [item] are available for puchase? In this instance you could buy 4 battle-axes. Not sure why the sap has a (1) though... Still, without access to BG (workcomputer) that's my guess, and I'm standing by it!

Until proven wrong, of course.

[Lollorian]

Yup, that number is the max number of the item you can buy from there (the Sap is from RR ... I think and it's a unique Sap )

[Raven Corax]

But that wouldn't make much sense as he sells other (completely identical) Battle Axes as well, but with a different number in brackets.

edit: But oh, you're right. As I buy an Axe the number decreases. Still strange though why they don't put identical Axes together.
Thanks .

Edited by Raven Corax, 17 October 2010 - 03:35 AM.

[Lollorian]

Maybe those other axes actually have different itemcodes while being the same axes ... some mods use their own versions of items for quests and stuff (or prolly some mod adds another stack of axes instead of adding to the existing stack )

[spanyam]

Reviving a somewhat old thread here. I'm going to play a BWS megamod installation as a kensai/mage, and I'm wondering just how important wisdom and charisma are. I'm going to require 18 in at least str and int, and preferably also in dex and con. That generally leaves me with little to nothing to spare on wis and cha. I also have item revisions installed, which makes things like ring of human influence give a mere +2 to cha insteaf of setting it to 18. Will I be making life very difficult if I opt for just 3 in cha? Should I instead keep both wis and cha at 7? Thanks.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Reviving a somewhat old thread here. I'm going to play a BWS megamod installation as a kensai/mage, and I'm wondering just how important wisdom and charisma are. I'm going to require 18 in at least str and int, and preferably also in dex and con. That generally leaves me with little to nothing to spare on wis and cha. I also have item revisions installed, which makes things like ring of human influence give a mere +2 to cha instead of setting it to 18. Will I be making life very difficult if I opt for just 3 in cha? Should I instead keep both wis and cha at 7? Thanks.

Well, the charisma is going to play somewhat very minor to role in the game statistical point of view, there are a few features that the Wisdom is going to show too, so your best bet is to go full Cha&Wis at 3 if you cannot spare the points. The major areas the high Cha is shown are the romances the game features(especially on BWS, and as the BWS installs several mods that remove the store prices dependency from Charisma, it begins to be quite obsolete stat anyway), and Wis is going to show up on the mages on two spells, the Limited Wish, and the Wish spells, as the options you are able to choose should depend on the characters Wis score, yes, they are 7th spell level and 9th spell level spells.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 25 November 2010 - 01:03 AM.

[spanyam]

Yeah, losing out on romances might not be too great. The best roll I got last time around allowed for 18 in str, dex, con, and int, with 13 or 14 in wis and 3 on cha. If I were to repeat that, I could just leave wis at 9 or so and get cha to 7 for neutral npc reactions. Thanks, and happy thanksgiving!